Bomb found in Lebanon's Hezbollah stronghold on eve of Muslim holiday

Explosive found in the Mamora neighborhood of southern Beirut two months after a car bomb killed 20 people in the area.

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Hezbollah members rally in Beirut 370.
(photo credit: Reuters)

Lebanese security forces defused a car bomb on Monday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the Shi'ite Muslim militia group Hezbollah.

The discovery of a bomb happened on the first night of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha and two months after a car bomb killed 20 people in the area, and looked like the latest sign of growing sectarian tensions in Lebanon exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria.

The bomb was found in a Jeep Cherokee parked in the Mamora area, a Lebanese army statement said. Specialists were brought in to defuse the bomb and take the car away.

The Lebanese army announced on Tuesday that the car bomb was rigged with 50 kilogram of explosives.

The Lebanese Daily Star report stated that the army said the explosives contained three mines, six cluster bombs, TNT, and aluminum powder as well as a detonation cord.

The army said it is continuing to investigate the incident.

Car bombs are becoming increasingly common in Lebanon. In September, twin bombs killed 42 people at Sunni mosques in Tripoli, in the deadliest attack in the coastal city since the end of Lebanon's civil war.

Fighters from Hezbollah have joined Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in their battle to crush a majority Sunni armed uprising, causing resentment among Lebanese Sunnis.

Eid al-Adha is the second most important holiday on the Muslim calendar. Lasting four days, the holiday marks the end of the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. Performing the hajj to Mecca is the fifth pillar of Islam and a Muslim should perform this at least once in his or her life.

Eid al-Adha commemorates when Allah appeared to Abraham in a dream and told him to sacrifice his son Ishmael and as he was about to kill his son Allah stopped him and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. The story resembles the story in the Jewish Bible in Genesis where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Muslims believe that Abraham was in fact a Muslim (named Ibrahim) and that the Jews falsified their text as it was Ishmael, the son of Hagar, who was to be sacrificed, not Isaac the son of Sarah.

The holiday includes prayer and an animal sacrifice with the meat shared amongst friends and the poor. It is a time for visiting with friends and family.

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